EARTH
Ashley is looking at her unconscious daughter. She looks so small in the hospital bed. When she got word from Shepard what happened she stopped what she was doing and rushed over. Now she has to wait alone while she holds her daughter's hand.
When she entered the emergency room she saw Shepard. Her former commander told her what happened. They were attacked by three grown men. Two were detained and the third got away. Abby was knocked unconscious and bleeding badly from a head wound. She didn't think to ask about Raina all she could think about was her daughter.
Ashley knows that head wounds bleed a lot so it doesn't necessarily mean it is serious. But her daughter has not regained consciousness yet and it has been almost three hours since the attack.
"Any change?" asks Shepard. She slowly walks into the small room. Ashley has her back to her sitting next to the bed.
When she doesn't reply Shepard walks to the side of Ashley. She doesn't want to scare her. "Ash?"
"Yeah?"
"Any change?" She looks at Abby. Her skin is pale and she is just so….still.
Ashley shakes her head.
"You need anything? Need me to call anyone?"
Ashley looks at her a little lost. "What?"
"Do you need me to call anyone Ash? Does Tyler know what is going on? What about Kaidan?"
"Oh." She clears her throat, wipes a tear. "I left Tyler a message. He had an offsite meeting today so I don't know when he will get it. I hate when his work cuts into the weekends, but I guess I shouldn't complain. And Kaidan…well he is at the academy. I …I didn't want to call him without knowing her prognosis."
"You want something to eat or drink?"
Ashley feels her daughter's hand move. She stands up and looks at her face, "Abby? Abby can you hear me? Open your eyes honey."
Shepard watches. Abby moves a little. Her eyes flutter a little. Her mouth opens then closes.
"That's it open your eyes Abby. I'm right here baby. You need to open your eyes honey please."
"Mmmom?"
"Yes." Ashley kisses her daughter's hand then kisses her forehead. "I'm right here honey. You're okay. Open your eyes."
"I'll get the Doctor," says Shepard though she doubts Ashley hears her.
"Wh Wh What happened?" asks Abby.
"Don't worry about that right now honey you just rest, oh thank God ." She kisses her forehead again. "Do you want some water honey?"
Abby nods her head which she wishes she didn't. The pounding is horrible. She closes her eyes tightly because the room is spinning.
Ashley places the straw on her lips. "Slow sips honey."
Abby complies. She doesn't move her head because of the blaring pain. Memory is coming back. "Raina?" Her voice is a bit hoarse.
"She's fine honey."
"So I hear our patient is awake." The Doctor walks in Shepard remains in the doorway to give them privacy. "You had us worried young lady." He runs a scan. "Can you follow my finger with your eyes and do not move your head."
No problem thinks Abby. The less she moves her head the better.
"Good good," says the Doctor. "How's your head? Any pain?"
"A lot," says Abby her voice still hoarse.
"Okay. I will up your dosage a bit. You took a pretty severe hit to your head. You may not remember everything that occurred. That is normal so don't worry about that it will come back to you. I want you to remain here overnight for observation. I want to make sure you can move your head without pain before you leave. Any questions?"
Abby is not sure what he said after hearing about her dosage. It is hard to concentrate.
"I think we got it Doctor thank you," says Ashley.
"All right then. The nurse will be in a minute to administer some pain medication then she will most likely sleep for a while." The Doctor smiles at Ashley and Shepard then leaves.
"Raina?" asks Abby. "Can…Can I see her?"
"You sure you are up to it honey?"
"Please."
Ashley turns to see Shepard still in the doorway. "Is Raina available to visit?"
"Yeah. I'll get her."
"She's coming honey. Anything else you need?"
"Sorry Mom."
"For what honey?" she brushes a stray hair out of her daughter's face.
"I should have taken a cab from the city instead of walking. I…I …."
"Hey. You have nothing to apologize for okay? You did nothing wrong Abby."
She feels like she did. Like she should have known better. She put her new friend in danger. She put herself in danger. But she has taken that road before and never had a problem.
"Abby?"
Abby moves her head slightly which again is a mistake. She takes a deep breath in and out. She doesn't want to throw up. "Raina?"
"Right here."
She feels Raina take her hand. Abby moves her thumb over the back of Raina's hand. The rougher feel of her skin is soothing to her. She can relax now knowing her friend is okay. "You hurt?"
"No…not really. How are you holding up?"
"Been better." Abby smiles a little.
"I am so sorry Abby."
"For what?"
"I …I wasn't fast enough. I couldn't stop that man from hurting you."
The nurse comes in and administers medication via her IV. Abby feels the effects immediately. It is hard to keep her eyes open. "Don't…be..." her eyes close.
"Abby?" Raina strokes her hair. She whispers in her ear, "You rest now Abby."
THESSIA
Valya opens her eyes and she wonders where the hell she is. She remembers talking to Tula about the mark from the dead asari. That's right Tula, her shop. Valya sits up. Rubs her face and looks around. She must have fallen asleep on the couch in Tula's office. She moves the blanket aside and stands up. Stretches a little. Looks at the time. "Shit." She has been asleep for nearly three hours.
She walks down the narrow hallway toward the front of the shop. As she passes a room that branches off from the hallway she hears her name.
"Hey Valya?"
She pops her head in. An asari is getting a very large marking of a reaper on her deep blue back. "Hey. Sorry Tula."
"No apologies necessary. You okay?"
"Yeah. Thanks for letting me crash."
"Anytime sweatheart." She gives her a wink.
Valya leaves the shop brings up her omni-tool and dials Atalia.
"Hey you get some rest?"
"Yeah. Any news?"
"Yeah I met with the woman from the school. She gave me a name."
"Just one name?"
"Yeah. She wasn't aware of a second friend."
Valya thinks that is a bit odd.
"You want to meet at the station?" asks Atalia.
"I'll be right there."
"See ya when you get here."
EARTH
"Seriously Oriana it is Sunday morning. I was enjoying a wonderful dream," says Dr. Claire Grossman. Her colleague and friend Oriana Lawson called wanting to show her something in the lab. "And why exactly are you here so early? I thought you were doing better about leaving work at work."
"Good morning to you too Claire. Look I just attended a funeral yesterday and I couldn't sleep so I came here."
"Oh that's right. I'm sorry Oriana. How was it?"
"It was actually very lovely." Both of their drivers don't look particularly happy with either one of them. They remain by the door.
Claire yawns. "Have you been here all night?"
"I told you I couldn't sleep."
Instead of arguing with her Claire decides to go along, "So what did you want to show me?"
"This." She points to a screen. "This is the RUST virus. And this is our serum. See what happens." She pushes a button to run the simulation.
It takes almost five minutes for the virus to overrun the serum.
"Holy shit Oriana it worked! That's fantastic!"
Oriana gestures for her to keep her voice down.
"Five whole minutes that is amazing." Claire says after lowering her voice.
"I know. What you and I have been doing with the serum I think is the right course. I don't think Dr. Cochran will have these kinds of results any time soon."
"No kidding. My gosh. We need to do more work on the serum. This is amazing."
Oriana has a great big smile on her face.
"Why the secrecy?" asks Claire. "I mean we are all on the same team."
"I don't know. I don't trust Blair."
"What? But you went to school with her. I thought you knew her. When did you stop trusting her?"
"I never really started," says Oriana. "I don't know. It's a feeling I have. I mean. She has been absent a lot lately and the last time I saw her she did not look very good."
Claire shrugs her shoulders questioning what she means.
"I think she might be sick."
"Like what a cold or something?" asks Claire. She has no idea where her friend is going with this.
"No I mean sick sick. I think she may be infected with RUST."
"What!" Claire lowers her voice again. The two drivers/body guards are looking their way. "What makes you say that?"
"The symptoms. Think about the last time you saw her. Why hasn't she been around lately?"
Claire thinks back to the brief presentation she made where Dr. Cochran spoke. "I mean I guess you could be right. She didn't look super healthy but that is a bit of a stretch don't you think?"
"Maybe. All I know is we need to be very careful Claire."
"Oriana you are scaring me."
"Good. I just don't like this feeling. I think something is up. This probably should be the last time we meet like this. I'm sorry I should have thought about that. They," she gestures to their escorts, "probably give her status reports. No doubt she will be hearing about our meeting."
"As she should Oriana."
"What? What do you mean?"
"You and I are onto something here. We should tell her. Maybe more minds and ideas can speed up the process of creating a vaccine."
"That's just it though."
"What?"
"I don't know if we should tell her yet. I think we need to work on our serum more and then tell them. Introducing new people will only slow our progress."
"How do you figure that?"
"We have to bring them up to speed. They will have questions about why we did this or didn't do that. Stuff they need to know but will delay us. I don't think we bring anyone in on this quite yet."
Claire is not sure. But she has worked with Oriana before and she has been right more than she has been wrong. And though it seems a little paranoid, she is fine with not informing the others of their progress just yet. "Okay Oriana. I'm with you."
"Great." Relief floods Oriana's body. She didn't realize she was so tense.
"I think we should go home now. I want to return to my dream if you don't mind."
"Dark hair or blonde?" asks Oriana.
"Dark hair that whipped in the wind and his muscles oh God his muscles." Claire closes her eyes at the memory of her dream man.
"I hope you two have a wonderful time." Oriana smiles as she closes down her station.
"I do too Oriana believe me, I do too."
Shepard and Raina are heading back to the hotel. The Doctor said that Abby would probably sleep the rest of the day and through the night.
Raina's side is starting to bother her just a bit. The Doctor inspected her wound and was impressed by the medi-gel application. He prescribed pain pills for the next couple of days.
The worse thing about getting stabbed is she didn't even know it happened. It must have been when she thought she dodged out of the way that he got a piece of her. She is rubbing her side.
"Stop that," says Shepard. They are walking to Shepard and Liara's room. Instead of having one large room with multiple bedrooms, there is one suite where Shepard and Liara are staying and two smaller rooms where the kids are paired up.
Raina jumps. Her hand falls to her side. She was deep in thought.
"You need to stop itching honey."
"I know I…I didn't realize I was."
Shepard opens the door. Right away Liara is gently hugging her daughter. They have been anxiously waiting her return. "How are you feeling?" Liara puts her arm around her as they walk toward the couch which is in the middle of the room. Eva, Mia and Little A are sitting in the matching chair or on the floor waiting.
"Hey sis how ya feeling?" asks Mia.
"I'm okay," says Raina. She takes her Mom's hand and gives it a squeeze. She gently sits on the couch.
"Are you sure?" Liara looks between Raina and Shepard.
"She's fine," says Shepard. "Just a scratch."
"Can I see it?" asks Mia.
"Yeah I want to see it," says Eva.
Liara is about to intervene but Shepard places her hand on her shoulder and leads her away from the kids.
"I don't think they should be so excited to see her wound Elly."
"Honey," she puts both hands on her shoulders. "She is fine. It was not a deep cut at all. Only needed a small amount of medi-gel. Okay? She's fine."
Liara lets out a breath. "How is Abby?"
"She has a severe concussion. They are keeping her overnight. She woke up though and was lucid which is good. She can probably go home tomorrow."
"Does this delay our departure? We were going to leave tomorrow. Perhaps we should postpone until the next day?"
"There's really nothing we can do for her Liara. And I think it is best if we get home."
"But Elly. Raina will want to visit with her. She will want to make sure she is okay. They have become such fast friends. I hate to leave without them talking again."
Shepard looks at her and smiles. "You're right. I will call and push back our departure a day."
"I know she will be grateful Elly, thank you. Are you alright?"
"Me? Fine why?"
"Just wondering. Did they catch the men who did this?"
"Two of the three. Raina after she was treated told me the third one ran away before I landed the sky car."
"To think what could have happened," Liara places her hand over her mouth.
Shepard takes her hand. She kisses the back of it. "She's okay."
"But…"
"I know…I know. But it didn't happen. She's okay. Everyone is okay." She hugs her blue beauty. The tension her body is carrying finally starts to relax now that she is at the hotel and in the arms of the woman she loves.
THESSIA
Valya arrives at Police Headquarters. She sees Atalia waiting for her by their patrol sky car.
"Hey," says Valya.
"Well you look a little better I guess," says Atalia.
"Gee thanks."
"So did you like the place?" She holds out her hand expecting something.
"Oh." Valya fishes in her pockets. She gives Atalia's keys back to her. "I actually crashed at a friend's place."
"A friend's place?"
Valya nods.
"Care to elaborate?"
Valya rolls her eyes. "What are you my mother? It's nothing like that. I went to a tattoo shop. I have a friend who is an artist. Wanted to ask her about the marking found on our vic."
"And?" Atalia is not too happy that Valya did not follow her orders.
"She told me it is a marking for the Ardat-Yakshi."
"No shit?"
"Yeah. She said she would never mark someone with this and neither would a lot of the established places. It's like a big no no in their circle. Low class she said."
"Okay. So you slept where exactly?"
Valya sighs. "She has a couch in her office and I crashed okay. Happy now?"
"Not exactly. You didn't follow my orders Valya."
"Look I'm sorry…"
"You are saying that a lot lately.
"But this is good information. I don't see why it matters where I slept. I still did what you told me to do."
Atalia looks at her. She decides to drop it. "Fine. What else did this artist say?"
"Just that we should start our search with the newer shops. The ones that opened after the war. Since they are new artists they may be more lenient in what they do for markings. Maybe they don't know the whole marking culture just yet."
"Makes sense. Sounds like we have research to do. Compile a list of newer shops. Start making calls."
Valya nods. "Did Akira find out the age of the dead asari yet?"
"Not yet. She hasn't heard back."
"What about the attack?"
"What about it?"
"Well if she was stabbed forty times does that mean she was not killed by an Ardat-Yakshi?"
"She was. Akira said her results show that her nervous system was compromised."
"So the person who killed her what? Melded with her then stabbed her to death?
"Akira said something was different with the asari than the Turian. The rate of decay in a specific portion of the brain. She is doing more tests."
"What does that mean? I mean what does she think it means?"
"Prolonged exposure. She is thinking maybe the Ardat-Yakshi was melding with her over a long period of time."
"How long?" asks Valya.
"Not sure. That is her working theory right now. Hopefully the tests she is running will tell her more. I think we should pay Caressa's friend a visit." Atalia walks to the driver's side of the patrol sky car and gets in.
Valya nearly forgot that she had a name to follow up on. She gets in. "So who is this friend?"
"Classmate from what the superintendent remembers. I mean she wasn't that big of a help. The school is so big, there are so many students to keep track of, blah blah blah." She starts the car.
"That's bullshit. I mean Caressa was a bully. She put a girl in the hospital for Goddess sake. How did the school not know what was going on?"
"Good question." Atalia puts the car in flight mode and takes off.
"And it's odd that you only got one name. My daughter specifically said she travelled with two girls."
"Hopefully this asari will shed some light on that."
"What's the name?
"Sandy Freeborn."
"That doesn't sound like an asari name."
"Nope."
"Parents?"
"Asari and a human female."
EARTH
"Miranda honey are you sure we cannot stay a little longer? Shayna and Rose not to mention me were hoping to see more of the city." Arelia and Miranda are in their hotel room. Shayna and Rose are next door.
"We can always come back Arelia." Miranda is packing. She wants to leave as early as possible. She knows the earliest transport is tomorrow morning.
"Can you stop. Just stop please for one minute so we can talk about this." Arelia takes her hand and pulls her to sit down on the bed. "What is going on?"
"I just want to get home."
"But why?" Arelia notices that Miranda will not look at her which usually indicates she is keeping something from her. "Please tell me what is going on?"
"I….I just want to get home."
"Miranda Lawson you tell me right now or I will take the girls and do our own sightseeing while you travel back to Thessia on your own."
Miranda knows she is dead serious.
"Now please tell me what is going on?"
Miranda stands and closes their bedroom door. She punches a few buttons on her omni-tool.
"What are you doing?" asks Arelia.
"Making sure we are not overheard."
"What?"
"It's a program that jams all listening devices, well the ones I have programmed for. We have about two minutes." Miranda turns on music as well to be safe.
"Mind telling me why you are so paranoid?"
Miranda sits down and takes both of Arelia's hands into her own. She looks her straight in the eye. "What I am about to tell you we cannot speak about until we are home. Do you understand?"
"Miranda…"
"Do you understand Arelia?"
The asari studies her face. "Yes. I understand."
"Oriana is working on a top secret project. She slipped me some information about it when we were at Ashley's house, which breeches her contract and could put her and her family in danger."
Arelia remains quiet.
"I need to know what it is and if she is in trouble." Miranda checks her omni-tool. One minute before the scrambling program stops.
"If she is in trouble shouldn't we take her with us?"
"Too dangerous. Besides I am not sure what she is dealing with so I really have nothing to go on right now. All I know is that she has never done this before so it must be big."
"Okay, but do you really think we are being followed or you need to worry about being overheard Miranda? I mean could our daughters be in danger?"
"One thing I have learned is you can never be too careful. You may be right. But I will feel better once we are home. We can always come back with the kids for a vacation if they want to see the City."
"Okay." Arelia trusts Miranda. If she says something big is happening she believes her.
"Okay?"
"Okay."
Miranda hits the button on her omni-tool that stops the scrambling. "I love you Arelia." She kisses her on her cheek then returns to packing.
"I'll tell the kids to start packing."
"The transport ship doesn't leave until tomorrow morning," says Miranda. "How about we watch vids tonight, make it a family night?"
Though Arelia knows Shayna and Rose would prefer to see Eva and Little A, she wants them close just in case. She will make it sound like fun and hopefully they won't notice how nervous she suddenly feels.
